Well, I've finished the 23 things and I did a week with Capturing Kid's Hearts and my mom stayed with me for a month. Can you say, "Glad to be back at school!"? Summer always comes and goes so fast and I'm always sure I'm going to get a million things done... and I probably do... just not the million things I wanted to get done. Such is life. Since graduating, I have ventured forth to create my own version of wordles in Word using Word Art. It's been fun. I just finished the Social Contract for our Intervention Team at School. (Social Contracts are part of Capturing Kid's Hearts in case you haven't been there.) Loved that program as well. If you get asked if you would like some Flippen training. Say YES! Not only do I think it will be great with the students, but the relationships we built with the teachers that were from our district was awesome. We came to know each other much better and in building that relationship, we created a much greater bond. Of course, that's what it is all about so... Guess it worked! I start seeing students on Monday. Took awhile to get them all placed into the right class on the check out system and to get them all made library cards... but they have them now and we are ready to start.
I am planning on doing a short lesson with the 3rd & 4th grade and going ahead to let them check out. K-2 however will have to get the longer version of library procedures and how to treat books. Also I plan to do a general social contract with all the classes to see if I can find one we will all sign. I don't have room to set up a social contract with each of the classes individually so I'm hoping I can get them all to buy in this way. I think it will work. I just discovered VoiceThread and I think I have another new love. I'll have to play with it a little more but this may be a perfect way to get my students to help the library advertise all its great treasures.
Well, my husband is building me a huge closet and he needs my help on the ceiling so I'll sign off for now and let you know later how things are going in the library.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Thing 23: Summarize Your Thoughts about this Program
What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I had so many favorites, it is hard to pick. I’m very excited about the Nings. I loved finding groups of people who do what I do and being able to share ideas, bounce them off others. I like finding people who are excited about what they do. I also loved all the photo & word toys: Flickr Toys, Image Generators, Wordle, Glogster, Dumpr… I know there are more… I had a blast playing with those and I know children will too. My granddaughter was here when I was exploring Dumpr and she’s still sending me things she is making. Rollyo is awesome. Delicious is destined to be my new best friend. Honestly, there is so much I really liked, I can’t pick a favorite. I loved how you can subscribe to blogs and then you don’t have to visit their site to see if something is new. They just send it to you if they have something new. That was cool.
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has literally changed my life. There is so many ways I can introduce students to Web 2.0 that I feel sure I can find something to please them all. I know I won’t be able to teach it all immediately but I plan to start with several things and get them started. Wikis seem easy to use and they are a great way to get students working in groups and brainstorming. What I want to do is take all that I have learned and pass this new love I have on to my teachers so that they too will get the bug so we can work together to teach the children.
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I would say a lot surprised me because I just didn’t realize how much was out there. I mean like Delicious. Folders were one way to organize favorites but you know they never work because many sites cover a wide variety of subjects and this way, I can tag one site with everything I would want to and be able to find it.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Hmmm…Actually I have loved it all. Improvements? Wiki section maybe. It seemed that all of the examples were older and no longer being used. It made it feel like they didn’t work. I do see that Wikis are often used for a project and then closed out but going to older wikis and then seeing others use different things for their projects now, made them look less useful. Some of the links didn’t work. It would be helpful if they were checked a little more often to see if something had been moved or was no longer there. I know my blog had someone who was checking it to see what I was doing. It would have been helpful to have had a little more feedback…. Personally a little, “You’re on the right track” or “You’ve got it” would have made me feel a little more comfortable. Even a few admonitions if I got on the wrong track would have been okay. I did go and give feedback to others and I received a few from some other bloggers but as a program, I wanted a moderator to touch base a little more often. Maybe with so many it would have been an impossible task but it would have been helpful.
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Most definitely, I have loved all the things I have been introduced to and I would love to see more or more in-depth. I have other librarians in my district doing the North Texas 23 things and I can’t wait to sit and compare. I’ve already introduced one to Rollyo because it wasn’t part of theirs and she loved it.
How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? One Word – AWESOME. One sentence – This could change your library forever.
I have loved this opportunity to be a part of this program. I am greatly in your debt for opening it up outside your district and allowing me to be a part of it. I have learned so much and I just hope I can eventually incorporate all of it into our school to give our students the absolute best chance of being a success in this technological world they were born in. Thank you and God bless you.
I had so many favorites, it is hard to pick. I’m very excited about the Nings. I loved finding groups of people who do what I do and being able to share ideas, bounce them off others. I like finding people who are excited about what they do. I also loved all the photo & word toys: Flickr Toys, Image Generators, Wordle, Glogster, Dumpr… I know there are more… I had a blast playing with those and I know children will too. My granddaughter was here when I was exploring Dumpr and she’s still sending me things she is making. Rollyo is awesome. Delicious is destined to be my new best friend. Honestly, there is so much I really liked, I can’t pick a favorite. I loved how you can subscribe to blogs and then you don’t have to visit their site to see if something is new. They just send it to you if they have something new. That was cool.
How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has literally changed my life. There is so many ways I can introduce students to Web 2.0 that I feel sure I can find something to please them all. I know I won’t be able to teach it all immediately but I plan to start with several things and get them started. Wikis seem easy to use and they are a great way to get students working in groups and brainstorming. What I want to do is take all that I have learned and pass this new love I have on to my teachers so that they too will get the bug so we can work together to teach the children.
Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I would say a lot surprised me because I just didn’t realize how much was out there. I mean like Delicious. Folders were one way to organize favorites but you know they never work because many sites cover a wide variety of subjects and this way, I can tag one site with everything I would want to and be able to find it.
What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Hmmm…Actually I have loved it all. Improvements? Wiki section maybe. It seemed that all of the examples were older and no longer being used. It made it feel like they didn’t work. I do see that Wikis are often used for a project and then closed out but going to older wikis and then seeing others use different things for their projects now, made them look less useful. Some of the links didn’t work. It would be helpful if they were checked a little more often to see if something had been moved or was no longer there. I know my blog had someone who was checking it to see what I was doing. It would have been helpful to have had a little more feedback…. Personally a little, “You’re on the right track” or “You’ve got it” would have made me feel a little more comfortable. Even a few admonitions if I got on the wrong track would have been okay. I did go and give feedback to others and I received a few from some other bloggers but as a program, I wanted a moderator to touch base a little more often. Maybe with so many it would have been an impossible task but it would have been helpful.
If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Most definitely, I have loved all the things I have been introduced to and I would love to see more or more in-depth. I have other librarians in my district doing the North Texas 23 things and I can’t wait to sit and compare. I’ve already introduced one to Rollyo because it wasn’t part of theirs and she loved it.
How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? One Word – AWESOME. One sentence – This could change your library forever.
I have loved this opportunity to be a part of this program. I am greatly in your debt for opening it up outside your district and allowing me to be a part of it. I have learned so much and I just hope I can eventually incorporate all of it into our school to give our students the absolute best chance of being a success in this technological world they were born in. Thank you and God bless you.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thing #22: Nings
Okay, I really liked the Teacher Librarian Ning and tried to sign up for their group and I joined the Texas School Librarian Ning. I liked that there were places discussing the things I want to discuss and brains I can pick for ideas. Texas School Librarian Ning… was typically Texas. They immediately put me on their list and and their arms around me. Apparently it takes the Teacher Librarian Ning a little longer to decide if they like you but hopefully they will. It was awesome seeing some of the topics and I jumped right in to read their ideas. I have to go to Arkansas tomorrow to check on my mom again… so I mostly lurked around and got their goodies but I promise to be more active when I get back. This is a great way to brainstorm and get ideas for library programs, find out the latest ideas and suggestions for running your library. It’s an opportunity to become a part of something that I think will be much bigger than the sum of its parts if everyone stays active. I hope I can.
Well, I have one more Thing to do and I really wanted to finish but if I’m to leave early in the morn, I better finish packing and get to bed. I guess I’ll finish when I get back.
Well, I have one more Thing to do and I really wanted to finish but if I’m to leave early in the morn, I better finish packing and get to bed. I guess I’ll finish when I get back.
Thing #21: Podcasts and Videocasts
I created a video using Photostory and pictures from Creative Commons section of Flickr. I did download Audacity and play with it but I didn’t use it. I just used the music selection available in PhotoStory3. If I had a headphone and microphone I would have tried but that’s all at school. I have used PhotoStory before and I have used Windows MovieMaker. Also, I use Smilebox and there are several applications there they make unique shows that I enjoy sending to my friends and family. They have a digital scrapbook, slideshows, photomatic, colormatic…lots of neat things to do with that program but it does cost. I even tried my hand at Animoto. Each of them has their own appeal so I don’t really have a favorite. I used PhotoStory at school last year for a project our teachers did for our Three Words. Our district did one, so we thought we ought to have our own. It was fun. I also used it for end of the year productions for teachers. We have used it for the awards ceremony at the end of the year for students to see a year at a glance. I have made them for Book Fair and our RIF giveaways. I am hoping this year to do some podcasting with our morning announcements. We don’t really have a way to do live production over the TVs in the classrooms but we could record it and upload to United Streaming and have it shown that way. That is one of my new projects I want to do for the year and now I just have to get all the mechanics down.
Thing #20 Part Two TeacherTube
Teacher Tube and YouTube both had some great resources to use as teaching tools. I'm sure that YouTube is blocked at our school but I am glad to know there is a way we can use them. I have used Zamzar at school before so unless they have changed I will have access to that. Hopefully we can convince someone in the Tech department to allow us in for 30 minutes to find what we need and we will be able to change the format and use it. I'm not sure if TeacherTube is blocked or not. Hopefully it won't be blocked. There were several videos I liked, and
I thought I could use. I chose this one because the library rules and procedures were very similar to my own. The light is a little dim in the picture but by the time you put it on big screen, it will lighten up. I had been on TeacherTube and YouTube before but hadn't realized you could embed them in to other places so easily until I took the 23 Things... so thanks again for helping me out. I had already embeded a video before at the bottom of my page as a gadget. I now see, I could have put it in a post... That's cool!
I thought I could use. I chose this one because the library rules and procedures were very similar to my own. The light is a little dim in the picture but by the time you put it on big screen, it will lighten up. I had been on TeacherTube and YouTube before but hadn't realized you could embed them in to other places so easily until I took the 23 Things... so thanks again for helping me out. I had already embeded a video before at the bottom of my page as a gadget. I now see, I could have put it in a post... That's cool!
Thing #20 - Part One
I found this video on YouTube. It is a thank you to a library that changed a person's life. I thought it was an appropriate choice for me because libraries changed my life and it is part of why I am in an elementary library today.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thing #19
LuLu – Okay not cheap but not over the top. I could see teachers using this for classroom books. It might be a site I keep in mind if I ever do decide to write a book… just to see it in print. One problem is they tend to hide the pricing of many of their items until they get you in there to create it.
Hmm…by reading the Craigslist blog, I found Conan O’Brien & Slash out guitar shopping and a link to a blogspot for a prostitute. I found some Zildijan Cymbals for a fair price but not awesome so I think I’ll just keep looking.
Google Docs – been there done that - Think it will be useful for students & teachers.
Wufoo- thing I can think of that I would use this for would be Bluebonnet Voting but probably wouldn’t. You could do a survey on what types of books that children like reading the most but I’m guessing I could just take the statistics from Destiny and figure that out. I can see school districts using this for a parent survey when they are looking for input, but not much that would warrant paying for a survey to fit my school library.
Omni-drive - Dead
.docstoc – Honestly, lots of cool things here but I’m not sure it is worth getting to if I had to put AdSense on my webpage or blogspot. I hate commercials getting in the way… I haven’t looked at it all but at this time, it’s not worth the “free if you add Ad-Sense” cost. Livemocha wouldn’t work with the new IE so I didn’t check that out. I looked at a copy of the page and it looks interesting. I might check it out from school using firefox. I’m not sure why if IE upgrades that people with a webpage don’t do what they need to do to keep up with the changes. I personally would like learning a foreign language for free.
Standout Jobs: not looking for a job…like the one I have. If I worked in a high school, I might really like this tool, but at elementary level, if I am not out looking then, I probably don’t need.
Upcoming: Okay, I live in a very small town, but it was fun to have them search for local events for Aubrey, Texas. It seems like if I take a drive over to Denton on a Thursday night, I can listen to a live show and meet Wes Hayden from The Bachelorette. If that isn’t exciting enough, there is a single family garage sale on Sat, but I have to drive to Flower Mound (another 10+ miles past Denton which is about 10 miles away from Aubrey. There’s also an 80’s night at a nearby Denton Mexican restaurant and a play in Lewisville if I want to drive a little further. BTW, nothing listed was happening here in the quaint little town of Aubrey…I didn’t even try to tell it Krugerville. We are a glorified neighborhood who outgrew its britches and incorporated ourselves as a city. Interesting…could be a place where we could list school events. I did search for Little Elm and found that the public library is holding a Saturday Movie Matinee but it doesn’t say what the movie is.
Im Cooked: Me, not so much of a cook, I’ll probably just skip this one, but I will pass it on to my culinary friends.
Urbanspoon however is restaurants and more to my taste.
Fun Stuff: Cocktail Builder … don’t drink but again, can share with friends. Not my elementary students though of course.
Zango.com is a closed user community – not open to anyone else. Galaxiki...not in to creating my own solar system right now but I could see where some might enjoy this.
Yelp! Love that Keller’s Drive-In in Dallas is listed as #1 in Restaurants and that Half-Price Books are #1 in Shopping. This was fun, enlightening, and worth passing on to friends, but not necessarily for school children.
Revolution Health was very interesting and seems to host a wide range of health information. From diet, to losing weight, looking for doctors, conditions a7 Diseases, healthy living, drug treatments, doctor and hospital referrals, and a place to create your own personal health record, the forum has some strange questions, but the health goal groups seem to be active and maintained.
PBWiki is now PBWorks. Good free site for a wiki
Frappr- Interesting. You can get a map to add to your site and map where your visitors come from. Might be cool if you have an active site. I don’t ever see myself needing something like that, but it is cool.
Google maps- love it! I love being able to see what a road looks like when I get to where I need to turn and it is fun to check everything out.
Twitter – I’ve heard of it and it might be something I am interested later but honestly Facebook wears me out, so I’m not sure Twitter would be much better.
Last - Okay, I really liked Last because you can look up artist, read their bio, find pictures, videos, albums, listen to tracks, find events, news, charts, similar artists (if you like this one, you’ll like this other one). I enjoyed their journal to get some feedback and the trends they see happening. It was well worth the site visit.
MothersClick – Good site for mothers…mostly for moms of younger children.
G.ho.st seems like a very handy way to keep up with this busy world where you have information coming from a variety of places. I like that it offers a way to keep up with my documents so I can access them from anyplace where there is an internet connection. I work on several different computers throughout a week and this would be very helpful for me. Now if I create something on one computer at school, I can upload and access it from my home desktop or one of the laptops I might use during the week. I haven’t created my computer in a web page yet but if I have time before I post, I’ll provide more feedback.
Picnik didn’t try but looks like fun. Honestly thought. I’ll be there for hours and I don’t have hours to spend, so I’ll just come back later.
Retail section seems to run the gamut. There is a t-shirt store (Threadless) that looks like you can give input on the design, Etsy which is more of a crafty homemade version of Ebay. Stylehive is advotaing the hot new trends and Stylepath wants to be your personal shopper.
Visual Arts – couldn’t figure out Color Blender, Swivel on the other hand had charts galore. You can use the ones they have for your needs or you can make your own.
I can see how I really would use the Web 2.0 Awards, to help guide me through some of those sites that have been deemed the cream of the crop. There is so much out there, you can just get lost in all of the things but it is helpful to someone like me who doesn’t have the time to investigate all those other choices.
Hmm…by reading the Craigslist blog, I found Conan O’Brien & Slash out guitar shopping and a link to a blogspot for a prostitute. I found some Zildijan Cymbals for a fair price but not awesome so I think I’ll just keep looking.
Google Docs – been there done that - Think it will be useful for students & teachers.
Wufoo- thing I can think of that I would use this for would be Bluebonnet Voting but probably wouldn’t. You could do a survey on what types of books that children like reading the most but I’m guessing I could just take the statistics from Destiny and figure that out. I can see school districts using this for a parent survey when they are looking for input, but not much that would warrant paying for a survey to fit my school library.
Omni-drive - Dead
.docstoc – Honestly, lots of cool things here but I’m not sure it is worth getting to if I had to put AdSense on my webpage or blogspot. I hate commercials getting in the way… I haven’t looked at it all but at this time, it’s not worth the “free if you add Ad-Sense” cost. Livemocha wouldn’t work with the new IE so I didn’t check that out. I looked at a copy of the page and it looks interesting. I might check it out from school using firefox. I’m not sure why if IE upgrades that people with a webpage don’t do what they need to do to keep up with the changes. I personally would like learning a foreign language for free.
Standout Jobs: not looking for a job…like the one I have. If I worked in a high school, I might really like this tool, but at elementary level, if I am not out looking then, I probably don’t need.
Upcoming: Okay, I live in a very small town, but it was fun to have them search for local events for Aubrey, Texas. It seems like if I take a drive over to Denton on a Thursday night, I can listen to a live show and meet Wes Hayden from The Bachelorette. If that isn’t exciting enough, there is a single family garage sale on Sat, but I have to drive to Flower Mound (another 10+ miles past Denton which is about 10 miles away from Aubrey. There’s also an 80’s night at a nearby Denton Mexican restaurant and a play in Lewisville if I want to drive a little further. BTW, nothing listed was happening here in the quaint little town of Aubrey…I didn’t even try to tell it Krugerville. We are a glorified neighborhood who outgrew its britches and incorporated ourselves as a city. Interesting…could be a place where we could list school events. I did search for Little Elm and found that the public library is holding a Saturday Movie Matinee but it doesn’t say what the movie is.
Im Cooked: Me, not so much of a cook, I’ll probably just skip this one, but I will pass it on to my culinary friends.
Urbanspoon however is restaurants and more to my taste.
Fun Stuff: Cocktail Builder … don’t drink but again, can share with friends. Not my elementary students though of course.
Zango.com is a closed user community – not open to anyone else. Galaxiki...not in to creating my own solar system right now but I could see where some might enjoy this.
Yelp! Love that Keller’s Drive-In in Dallas is listed as #1 in Restaurants and that Half-Price Books are #1 in Shopping. This was fun, enlightening, and worth passing on to friends, but not necessarily for school children.
Revolution Health was very interesting and seems to host a wide range of health information. From diet, to losing weight, looking for doctors, conditions a7 Diseases, healthy living, drug treatments, doctor and hospital referrals, and a place to create your own personal health record, the forum has some strange questions, but the health goal groups seem to be active and maintained.
PBWiki is now PBWorks. Good free site for a wiki
Frappr- Interesting. You can get a map to add to your site and map where your visitors come from. Might be cool if you have an active site. I don’t ever see myself needing something like that, but it is cool.
Google maps- love it! I love being able to see what a road looks like when I get to where I need to turn and it is fun to check everything out.
Twitter – I’ve heard of it and it might be something I am interested later but honestly Facebook wears me out, so I’m not sure Twitter would be much better.
Last - Okay, I really liked Last because you can look up artist, read their bio, find pictures, videos, albums, listen to tracks, find events, news, charts, similar artists (if you like this one, you’ll like this other one). I enjoyed their journal to get some feedback and the trends they see happening. It was well worth the site visit.
MothersClick – Good site for mothers…mostly for moms of younger children.
G.ho.st seems like a very handy way to keep up with this busy world where you have information coming from a variety of places. I like that it offers a way to keep up with my documents so I can access them from anyplace where there is an internet connection. I work on several different computers throughout a week and this would be very helpful for me. Now if I create something on one computer at school, I can upload and access it from my home desktop or one of the laptops I might use during the week. I haven’t created my computer in a web page yet but if I have time before I post, I’ll provide more feedback.
Picnik didn’t try but looks like fun. Honestly thought. I’ll be there for hours and I don’t have hours to spend, so I’ll just come back later.
Retail section seems to run the gamut. There is a t-shirt store (Threadless) that looks like you can give input on the design, Etsy which is more of a crafty homemade version of Ebay. Stylehive is advotaing the hot new trends and Stylepath wants to be your personal shopper.
Visual Arts – couldn’t figure out Color Blender, Swivel on the other hand had charts galore. You can use the ones they have for your needs or you can make your own.
I can see how I really would use the Web 2.0 Awards, to help guide me through some of those sites that have been deemed the cream of the crop. There is so much out there, you can just get lost in all of the things but it is helpful to someone like me who doesn’t have the time to investigate all those other choices.
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